Clik here to view.
VA – Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic V: Lost Hero – Tears for Esbjörn (2016)
Like Pat Metheny, the late pianist and composer Esbjörn Svensson became one of jazz’s rare commercial successes without lowering the bar. He could write instrumental music that sounded sung, and his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Peru Boom: Bass, Bleeps & Bumps from Peru’s Electronic Underground (2015)
This bass heavy and potent collection features the key Peruvian producers and DJs that have helped build Lima’s reputation as ‘jewel in the crown’ of South America’s rave & party scenes. Tropical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music (2016)
Gram Parsons called his blend of country, rock, and soul “Cosmic American Music,” a phrase that captured his hippie ethos: it was American music but it was mystic, an unnamable, unmistakable connective...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Aloha Got Soul: Soul, AOR, & Disco in Hawaii 1979-1985 (2016)
…Recent compilations such as Favourite Recordings’ AOR Global Sounds series have seen the previously only ironically enjoyed genre rising in critical stature. Much derided by critics during its heyday,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – So Low (2016)
If there is one legacy that could be derived from a casual analysis of the post-punk years, it’s that it wasn’t just the music that was made but the sheer amount of it that was produced. Outside the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Mojo Presents: Paint It Black (2016)
01. The Mickey Finn – Garden of My Mind 02. The Bonniwell Music Machine – Dark White 03. The Silence – Down Down 04. The 13th Floor Elevators – Reverberation (Doubt) 05. The Spencer Davis Group –...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Larry Levan: Genius of Time (2016)
It’s the norm now, but at the birth of modern dance music in the ’70s, DJs, producers and remixers were rarely the same person. As influential as his Loft parties were, you’d be hard-pressed to find a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Southern Family (2016)
More than a concept album, Dave Cobb’s 2016 compilation Southern Family is a clarion call: the definition of a new south for a new millennium. This new south — one with a reverence for the past, as...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Rough Guide to Americana: Second Edition (2016)
Sylvie Simmons isn’t just a familiar byline to lovers of quality magazines, she’s also a musician who not that long ago (in the grand scheme of things) released an album under her own name for the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Out of Left Field: Where Soul Meets Country (2016)
Ace spent three volumes chronicling country-soul, digging out the best country songs sung by soul singers. Their 2016 Out of Left Field: Where Soul Meets Country flips the equation, presenting 24 soul...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Rough Guide to South African Jazz (2016)
Encompassing the marabi, kwela and jive styles of mid-twentieth century urban South African music, this compilation covers the sounds, styles, assemblages and musicians that reside under the umbrella...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Rough Guide to the Best World Music You’ve Never Heard (2016)
This seamless collection of some of the finest unheard musical treasures from around the world was gathered from World Music Network’s ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition. From the souped-up guitar of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Rough Guide to a World of Psychedelia (2016)
In the minds of most people, the psychedelic era lasted just a few short (though eventful and multi-coloured) years. As the Beat Generation of Burroughs, Kerouac and Ginsberg morphed into an LSD...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – New York Noise: Dance Music from the New York Underground 1977-82 (2016)
Contrary to the somehow prevailing beliefs, reissue culture, as of this century, is not damaging per se. The notion that continuously digging the past and trawling history in search for something...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Punk 45: Chaos in the City of Angels and Devils – Hollywood from X to...
In the early ’70s, the conventional wisdom in rock & roll was that Los Angeles was the home of all that was mellow and groovy, and New York City was the go-to place for music that was gritty and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Piano Cloud Series: Volume One (2016)
No one should be too surprised to see a collection of acoustic piano pieces being issued by 1631 Recordings. After all, one of the label’s co-founders is David Wenngren (Kning Disk label overseer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Dust On the Nettles: A Journey Through the British Underground Folk...
This richly realized collection from the Cherry Red label’s psych/garage imprint Grapefruit offers up three heaping discs worth of British folk from its late-’60s and early-’70s heyday. The scene’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – 19 (2016)
Promo-only 4CD set covering the years 1961-2000 from Numero Group’s catalog. “This four-CD set compiles highlights, lowlights, and odd lights from the Numero Group’s sprawling collection of songs...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Music of Morocco: Recorded by Paul Bowles, 1959 (2016)
Since 1999, Atlanta’s Dust-To-Digital has stayed true to their mission “to produce high-quality, cultural artifacts.” This four-disc set of field recordings by expatriate writer, composer, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
VA – Various Auras: A Bird’s-Eye View Into A Machiavellian World of Secrecy...
Hospital Productions parade a rogues gallery of extreme souls commissioned to compose original, durational ambient pieces in opposition to contemporary definitions of that sound. The term ‘ambient’ is...
View Article